Beverage-cooler



D. A. MATOT.

BEVERAGE COOLER.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. a, x920.

1,366,197. v I Patented Jan. 18,1921.

UNITED STATES I .DUFEY A. irror, or crrroaqdinnmors.

BEVERAGE-COOLER.

Specification of Letters Batent.

.la nt J u!!- .18 9 .1-

Application filed March 3, 1920. .Serial No. 363,032.

To all whom itmay concem:

Be it known that I, DUFFY A. MATOT, a citizen .of the United States, residing .at Chicago, in the county of Cook andState of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Beverage-Coolers, of which the followingis a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in that type of cooling devices or refrigerators employed forreducing and maintainingat desired degrees of temperature, beverages of various kinds contained in casks orpackages, from which the liquor can be directly drawn and served at such temperature, and it consists in certain peculiarities of the construction, novel arrangement, combination and operation of the various parts thereof as will behereinafter more fully setforth and specificall claimed.

.One of the objects 0 the invention, isto provide a beverage cooler. of the above mentioned general character, which shall be simple and inexpensive in construction, strong, durable and highly efficient in operation, with its parts so made and arranged as to provide a combination cooler, of one or more package containing compartments, and a service counter.

Another object, isto furnish a cooler of such construction of its parts, that, refrigeration of the' beverages willthereby be effected while in the packages orcasks, thereby eliminating the necessity of coils, which have heretofore been commonly; used, besides avoiding the many troubles arising through the use of the same, such rasleaks, cloggingup. and getting slimy and the like, yet permitting the beverage being drawn directly i from the package and served at a potable degree of temperature.

A furtherand: important object, is to provide means for facilitating the loading or unloadingof the compartment or compart-v ments of the cooler with. the packages of beverage, or in other words-for accelerating the handling of. packages in placing and properly positioning thefn inthe cooler, or in removing them therefrom.

Still another objectwis tofurnish means for draining the compartments of the coolers and a for automatically controlling the amount of icewater, contained therein, so as to regulatethe. temperature .of the liquid oribeverage.

Numerous other objects and advantages of the invention will be disclosed in the fol lowing descr ption and explanation.

beverage containing package or a receptacle i will occupy in thefinitial stepnofplacing it and properly positioningitdn one of the compartments ofthe cooler.

Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional view taken on line 2- 2 of Fig. 1, but showing the doors of the, compartmentclosed, and

dffig'. 3 is a plan sectional view 1 taken on line 3 3 of Fig. 2 asindicated arrows.

In Fig. 2 I have shown a cooler] comprising two spaced apart compartments for the reception of beverage.containing casksor packages and interposed thereloetvmen a11- other compartment provided with faucets for drawing off the beverage "from the casks, but I' desire it to be understoodthatl do not wishrto be limited to any particular number of such compartments or to their aforesaid arrangement, but may use a cooler having one or more. of r such compartments constructed in the manner and equipped with the improvementsus wilLhereinafter be set forth. a

The referencenumeral 5 designates as a whole a box-like casing, which by prefer enceis provided at each of iits ends with a compartment p6 which ,extcnds .vertically from-the floor to the top 7 oiithe casing, which top is horizontally disposed ,as shown, and terminatesatone of its side edges abcut midway between thBrfI'Qllii. and, rear L walls of the casing. Between th compartment 6 is located what may be termed. In service Loompartment. 8 which i is preferably equipped with a drip pan or, receptacle 9 for holding or catching the drippings, from. the faucets 10 which arelocated in one of the walls of said compartment. p

The casing 5 is provided in one of its walls, whichmay be termed the front wall thereof, with a doorway 111 rectangular. in construction, which leads to the compartments 6 when more than oneof said, com .partmentsis employed. fllhe upper edge of the front Walls .of the casing. located at: the lower portion. of said} doorway Q is. inwardly and. downwardly; beveled as at 12, see Fig.

2, and may be located at any suitable distance from the floor of the casing so as to provide means for holding a considerable quantity of water and ice without the same overflowing at the lower edge of the doorecured to the front wall of the casing by means'of hinges 13' is a door 14 for each of the compartments 6 which door has its 10 perimeter formed to'correspond with the perimeter of the-doorway 11 in order to produce a tight fit when the door is closed.

As a simple and inexpensive way of providing such a closure the perimeters of the the front wall of the casing. The side walls of each of the compartments o are downwardly and forwardly inclined as at 17 so i that when the doors are closed, they will occupy forwardly slanting positions as will be readily understood by reference to Fig. 2

of the drawing.

Onfits inner surface near its top when i closed, 'each of the doors 14 is provided with a horizontally disposed rest bracket 18 which has its inner portion downwardly curved as at 19 to conform to the curvature of the cask or package 20 containing the beverage. Each of said doors has firmly andvertically mounted on its inner surface a strong bar 21 which is provided at its upper end when the door is closed, with an inwardly extended hook 22 and at its other end with an inwardly extended arm 23 which arm is by preference located in an upwardly inclined plane and is considerably longer than the hook 22, as shown in Fig. 2 of the drawing and for the purpose to be presently explained. Each of the bars 21 is of suflicient length to extend considerably below the hinged portion of its door when the latter is closed, and by preference, to near the bottom of the compartment in which it is located.

, Now, when it is desired to place a cask or package, which are usually in the form of kegs, in one of the compartments of the cooler, the door 15 of said compartment is elevated and the door 14 thereof is lowered to about the positions shown in Fig. 1 of the drawing, when it is evident that the hooked arm 22 will now be located at the bottom of said door and near the floor, and that the rest bracket 18 for the package will be presented outwardly.

When thus positioned, the cask 20 is placed on the curved portion 19 of the rest bracket and longitudinally on the bar 21, when it is apparent that the hooked arm 22 will engage the chime 23 at the lower end of the keg or package and the arm 23 will engage the other end of the package and will extend inwardly from its chime. l n thus placing the package on the door 14; care should be taken to locate the bung 24 of the cask near the hooked end of the arm 22, so that when the door 1-1 carrying the cask is elevated to the position to close its doorway as shown in Fig. 2 the bung which is eccentrically located in the head of the cask will be positioned in front of the front edge of the top 7 of the casing for easy access there to and the ready adjustment or application of the liquid draw-oil pipe 25 and the pressure pipe 26, which may be applied to the bung and cask in the ordinary or any well known way and which liquid pipe may be connected to one of the faucets 10 while the pressure or air pipe 26 may be connected to a source of air or carbonic gas under pres sure not shown.

he pipe 25 is extended at its lower end to very near the bottom of the cask which by reason of the inclination of the supporting arm 23 therefor will be inclined slightly forwardly as shown, so that practically all of the beverage may be withdrawn from the cask. By this arrangement it is also evident that as the liquid is drawn from the lower portion of the cask which is always immersed in cooled or ice water that the beverage may be served at a low or potable degree of temperature until the cask is emptied.

In order to drain the cooler I provide each of the compartments 6 with a drain pipe 27 horizontally located in one of the walls of the casingat the bottom of said compartment, which drain pipe may be provided with a shut-off valve 28 of any suitable kind. Rotatably mounted on the pipe 27 between the valve 28 and the wall of the casing is a coupling 29 from which is extended a trapped overflow pipe 30 by means of which the quantity of water held by the compartment can be automatically regulated and thereby regulating the temperature of the beverage. The pipe 30 being in rotatable communication with the drain pipe 27, can be turned in the proper direction to raise or lower its trapped end 31 so as to regulate the quantity of water held in the compartment as is obvious.

By my improvements it is appailent that the fiat top 7 of the casing can be used as a counter on which to rest the glasses in serving the beverages, thus combining a cooler and service counter. It is also manifest that by my improvements ice can be readily placed around the packages or on top of the same and that in the melting thereof the water therefrom will be prevented overfiowing at the doorways when the doors are opened or closed.

By my attachments for the lower doors 141- of the cooler it is apparent that the casks can be readily placed and properly positioned within the compartments thereof and can be easily removed therefrom as said doors and their attachments act as levers and holders for the packages, thus relieving the operator of the necessity of lifting the heavy casks bodily above the lower edges of the doorways in placing the packages within the compartments or removing them therefrom.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is-- 1. In a device of the class described, the combination with a casing having a water holding com artment therein provided with a vertica ly elongated doorway terminating horizontally at a distance above the bottom of the compartment, of a door hinged at its lower portion to the casing at said horizontal termination of the doorway for vertical movement and closure of said doorway, and a bar longitudinally and fixedly mounted on the inner surface of the door and extended beyond the hinged portion of the door and within said compartment, said bar having means at its ends toward said bar for the pur ose of retaining the package in a slighty tilted position toward the bar when the door of the compartment is closed.

2. In a device of the class described, the

combination with a casing having a water holding compartment therein provided with a vertically elongated doorway terminating horizontally at a distance above the bottom of the compartment, of a door hinged at its lower portion to the casing at said horizontal termination of the doorway for vertical movement and closure of said doorway, abar longitudinally and fixedly mounted on the inner surface of the door and extended beyond the hinged portion of the door and within said compartment, said bar having at one of its ends an inwardly extended hooked arm and at its other end an inwardly extended arm located bodily in a plane inclined toward said bar for the purpose of retaining a package engaged by said arms in a slightly inclined positlon toward the bar when the door of the compartment is closed.-

DUFFY A. MATOT. 

